September 18th, 2005
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| Machine Gun Slide Return Springs info
I don't know if anyone ever thought much about this subject but I thought it sounded interesting. About five years ago, I worked with a gun designer who was building a low recoil 20 mm machine gun. The prototype had the same recoil as a .50 cal. machine gun and had a rate of fire of 5 rounds/sec. Being an electronics type, I usually couldn't understand most of what he was talking about when he explained the mechanics of the thing.
One thing I couldn't comprehend was the design of the springs that he used to return the slide and close the bolt after a round was fired. First, the spring wire was a pair of wires twisted tightly and then formed into a coil spring and tempered. Supposedly, the Germans used this method first during WWII, because the springs lasted longer before failure or replacement. Also the springs had a heavier load capacity so they did not have to be made from large diameter wire.
Maybe 5.56 can shed some light on the design and is it still in use today?
 “War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse.” —John Stuart Mill |
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